


Why No One Talks About Camping Anymore

by orphan_account



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Camping AU, F/M, Identity Reveal, LadyNoir - Freeform, Marichat, Slow Burn, This has some chloexnath because i love them, adrienette - Freeform, it's gonna be so slow you'll hate me, ladrien, lots of Adrienette
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-30
Updated: 2016-03-30
Packaged: 2018-05-06 00:05:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5395241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A class camping trip? How fun...</p>
<p>To be completey honest, I wanted to write a little drabble for 'it was fucking in-tents' but I realised my 'sin' writing skills are pretty ordinary so I settled for some fluff instead.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So this is my first fic...ever. I know I'm not the best writer, but I have too many ideas and headcannons to not do anything. Besides, I can't draw so this is my only option. Hope you enjoy it.

CHAPTER 1

'Spotted: Ladybug and Chat Noir appear to be 'flirting' below the Eiffel Tower. Are the two finally together? A romantic rendezvous? Click below for more!'

Marinette read her best friends blog with a blank expression on her face. Romantic rendezvous? There's nothing romantic about planning a surprise attack on an akumatized victim, unless you count Chat's shameless flirting as romantic, which in this case, it was not. 

She decided not to read on and clicked out of tab and onto her desktop screen. 

"One day he's going to find out about your little crush on him, Marinette." A small voice said from her shoulder. The kwami floated towards the screen and touched it with her small hands. "Although, he is quite oblivious." Tikki giggles. 

Marinette rested her head in the palm of her hands and sighed dreamily at the pictures of Adrien. "And until that day, I will continue to daydream of him."

"And I don't doubt that a single bit." Marinette smiled at her kwami and reached over for her sketch book. 

"I was thinking, Alya said she was having a small get together in around two weeks, and she said to dress really nice..." Tikki gestured for her to go on. 

"Maybe I should design something? You know, instead of going out of my way to buy a nice dress-"

"You'll go out of your way to make a dress. I'd expect no less of you, Marinette. You've always been like that." Tikki wandered over to the roof hatch out of habit while Marinette stayed in her chair. "Aren't we...?" She trailed off, looking at the dark haired girl. 

"It's a bit chilly tonight. I think I'll stay in here." She paused. "Maybe we can open it, for, you know, fresh air?" It came out as more of a question than a statement, but Tikki obliged knowing full well 'fresh air' was Marinette's way of saying she was waiting for a certain cat to grace them with his presence. She and Chat had gotten closer over the past few weeks. After he saved her, he made it his duty to check in on her every once in a while. 

"Just as long as neither of us catch a cold, I'm fine with leaving it open."

-

The night air bit the black cats cheeks as he gracefully bounded across the rooftops of Paris. Tonight, Adrien's father was supposed to take him out for a father-son dinner, but it got postponed due to his fathers fight schedule, so instead of moping around his house with a hungry kwami nagging him for cheese, he is high above Paris with a hungry kwami nagging about cheese. 

"For the third time, I'm not buying you any more cheese, Plagg!" Adrien mumbled to the black kwami lying next to him. "It's cold and I have somewhere to be."

"By somewhere I hope you mean at home where you can bring me all the cheese?" Plagg offered. Why couldn't he like sweets? Or maybe even pasta? Why smelly cheese? Adrien rolled his eyes. 

"Enticing offer, Plagg, but this hero feels like talking to a certain classmate of his." He stood up, ready to take off again. Plagg lay on the rooftop patting his belly. 

"Does said hero think it's cool to talk in second person?" Adrien glared at him. 

"Does little kwami think I won't give him any cheese when we get home? Claws out!" Transforming back into Chat Noir, he took off for Marinette's house. Spotting the balcony from ages away, he started sprinting on the roofs to get their faster. Anything to get away from this darn cold. 

Reaching her rooftop, he came to the realisation that she is not there. 

'Maybe she bailed on you? Let's go home.' Plagg's voice said. Adrien shook his head and walked over to the hatch. Open. 

-

The cold wind from the open hatch was starting to get to Marinette, who let out a small sneeze. 

"Gosh, maybe I should close the hatch and he can figure it out. What do you think?" She faced Tikki, and with a nod, she gets ready to stand up, but is interrupted. 

"Knock, knock." A familiar male voice said from above her. It was only a matter of time before he showed up. 

Without looking up at him, she replied. 

"Who's there?"

"Keith." Keith? Her pencil stopped moving as her eyebrows slowly rose. This is a new one. 

"Keith...who?" 

"Keith me, my thweet printheth." He let out a small giggle, holding his position upside down. She rolled her eyes and continued designing her dress, shaking her head at the silly cats attempt of a pun. 

"One day I'll be the reason for your pretty laugh to fill the night air with its melodic sound, princess." With a small thud, he swung himself back around and landed on his feet, unbeknownst of the pink tinge on his princess's cheeks. 

"Too bad that day is not today, silly kitty." She stated, concentrating on her dress. 

His lips curled into a grin. "And here I was thinking my Princess would be happy to see me." He teaserd her, swinging his tail around in his hand. 

"I'm always happy to see you." She mumbled to herself honestly, lifting her head up to softly smile a him. Truth be told, she doesn't mind his presence whatsoever, although his puns are a little dry, but that's nothing to worry about. "So, what are you doing here on this fine night?"

"Who were you talking to just before?" His head tilted to the side, blonde hair flopping over his eyes. Marinette froze for a moment. Drat, did he hear her talking to Tikki?

"I asked you first." 

"Very well. If you must know, I was in the neighbourhood and thought 'Hey, hows my favourite clas-civilian doing tonight?" He bit his tongue hoping she didn't pick up on him about to say 'classmate'. 

"So you decided to visit me? How thoughtful. The Chat Noir visiting little old me." Marinette looked up at him to see him watching her. He had his hand on the back of his neck and a shy look on his face. 

"That, and I was lonely. My lady wasn't on patrol tonight." He dramatically clutched his heart and feigned heartbreak. Drama queen... 

"Guess the cat's outta the bag now, huh."

"Don't say that ever again. Alya, you know her, says it every time I call her out on something, which is a lot." "Yikes, not a fan of the saying?" "That's an understatement." Marinette continued to draw while Chat watched her with curious eyes. "Anyway, who were you talking to?"

"Curiousity killed the cat, Monsieur Nior but since you're so eager," she paused, trying to come up with an actually believable answer. No such luck. "I wasn't actually talking to anyone."

"I'll have you know I have a keen ear, princess. Was it a boyfriend? Or maybe a stowaway?" He joked. 

"It was n-no one. I-uh...wasn't talking to my...self," She cringed as soon as it came out, but held her ground. When she saw the sides of his mouth twitch upwards she knew he wasn't buying it at all. "Fine. Im making a dress and I'm not exactly getting anywhere... I was talking to Alya. She uh...hung up."

"I see." Marinette nodded, glad he didn't push that any further. 

"You'd think she'd grow tired of following you and Ladybug around but it seems like she's made it her life mission to find out who you actually are."

"I don't blame her. My partner and I are pretty purr-fect if I do say so myself." 

"Silly kitty." She smiled in his direction before looking at the basic outline of her dress again, almost giving up on the idea, until she noticed a certain feline watching her. 

"Hey Chat, you're a boy." Even behind his mask she could see he has his eyebrows raised. 

"That indeed, Princess."

"If a girl walked past you in a dress, what would the dress need to look like to grab your attention?"

"Are you trying to impress me, princess?" His lips curled into a smirk. Her face dropped. Of course he wouldn't take this seriously. 

"No no, I...never mind, forget I said anything." She sighed and started tapping the pencil on her sketchbook. 

Moments pass before Chat finally answered, startling Marinette.  
"Red." She turned her head to look at him. "A red dress with a black bow around the waist." He imagined Marinette walking into a ballroom wearing the dress, her hair down and a beautiful smile on her face. "Simple yet elegant."

She quickly wrote down what Chat would like and smiled up at him. "Thanks, Chat. I quite like your style."

"If you end up designing this dress, you'll have to model it for me. Besides," he popped his imaginary collar, "I'm pretty great inspiration."

"You keep telling yourself that, cat."


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is supposed to be a camping au and there still isn't any mention of camping oopsie daisy ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

The next day served as more of an 'off' day for Marinette. She opened her eyes and groaned, immediately shutting them again. Too early. Too bright. Maybe she should not have stayed up so late. Stretching her arms in the air, she lazily sat up and flipped her feet over the side of her bed and yawned; her hair sticking in all sorts of directions.

"Marinette you look like a zombie!" Tikki giggled into her small hands. No matter how many times she saw her chosen Ladybug in a tired/dazed state, she always laughed. The ladybug kwami had been up eating a cookie Marinette left for her the night before, or so she thought. The girl incoherently mumbled to herself before stepping off her bed. She opened one eye, almost hissing at the light.

"Why is the floor so-aah!" She must have left something on the ground the night before, because the next thing she knew she was falling. It all happened in slow motion. Marinette frantically tried to grab on to something, anything, she could get her hands on, but apparently a loose bed sheet is not the ideal option to stop a mid-fall. She fell straight onto her butt and groaned.

"Marinette! Are you alright? I saw the whole thing!"

"Fine, thanks..." She grumbled, standing up again and picking up a stray piece of red fabric. "I don't remember working on the dress anywhere near my bed last night. You wouldn't happen to know anything about this?" Marinette rested a hand on her hip and tilted her head, facing an almost hysterical Tikki with a blank face.

"I'm so sorry Marinette, I promised myself I wouldn't rat him out, but I guess the cat is out of the bag now. He knocked your scrap-box off your working dest and fabric went everywhere. I wouldn't be surprised if some was stuck to his catsuit. He was freaking out so much, I swear I almost flew out of my hiding spot to help him. Poor kid."

What's with everyone saying 'the cat's out of the bag'?

"When did this happen?" She rubbed her back, using the bed as support as she stretched to try to ease the pain. No such luck...

"I presume you went to get the both of you something to eat, because when I woke up there was a plateful of cookies on your desk."

"I..." Marinette walked over to the empty plate sitting on the edge off her desk. "Would you mind me asking what happened to the cookies?"

Tikki blushed. "About that... I thought they were for me."

"Oh Tikki, they were supposed to be for Chat Noir to take home with him."

"I'm sorry Marinette. I promise I won't do it again without asking first!"

"I'm not upset, Tikki!" Marinette laughed at the sad-looking kwami. "You didn't know. There's no way I could be mad at you for that."

"Thanks Mari. This is why you were chosen as Ladybug. You're so forgiving." Marinette felt her heart flutter at the compliment.

"Thank you Tikki. That really means a lot to me." She held her hand out for the kwami to fly over and land on, before hugging it to her chest.

"Just out of curiosity," Marniette brought her hand back out to in front of her, "You wouldn't happen to know the time, Tikki?" The ladybug shook her head.

"Not exactly, but I do know you should probably start getting ready."

~

Marinette raced around the corner and saw her school in the distance. With a croissant in her mouth and her hand holding her bag firmly in place she made a mad dash for the entrance.

'Oh no...' She thought to herself. 'I'm probably late! No ones outside anymore. Great, now I'm going to have to walk in the classroom with a half eaten croissant in my mouth. Woe is me.'

Stopping in front of the stairs to take a breather, she leant against the hand rails and pressed a hand to her back.

"I completely forgot about my back. Maybe running wasn't the best idea." She heard a small giggle from her bag and opened it. 

"Oh Marinette, look at your phone." Tikki handed her the phone.

"There's no messages?"

"The time, silly." Marinette's eyes wondered to the time displayed on her phone and she groaned. Again. Half an hour...early.

"Brilliant..." She stuffed her phone back in her bag before she felt a hand on her shoulder. She jumped 10 feet in the air and almost droppedbher croissant. A wide eyed Alya stood behind her, hand hovering where Marinette's shoulder was previously. Slowly, she brought her hand back to her side.

"Hey girl, you okay?"

"Just peachy..." Marinette reached back into her bag to pet a small Tikki on her head as an apology for the sudden movement. "Clumsier than usual, it seems. I slipped this morning and misread the time, but otherwise I'm okay. Oh! That reminds me," She started digging on her bag again. Before she left, she stuffed the red fabric in her bag to show Alya. She always loved to hear what her best friends thinks of her designs. "I've got something to show you. Anyway, how are you today?"

"Honestly, tired. Stayed up late updating the Ladyblog. It's funny you mention bad luck because," Alya whipped out her phone and unlocked it before shoving it in Marinette's face. "Chat Noir was spotted last night near the bakery. Maybe he wanted something and left a bit of his bad luck there." She joked, missing Marinette's little choke noise. "Yeah, no news on Ladybug though, which is a shame. One day something is going to happen between those two. I can feel it. Anyway, did you finish your physics homework? I tried calling you last night but your phone must've been off?" She asked as the pair walked up the stairs to the main entrance. Marinette stopped in place before losing her breath completely and frantically looking up at her, hands still in her bag.

"W-we had...physics homework?" Alya hit her face with the palm of her hand and shook her head. "Oh girl, girl, girl. You need to start prioritising." Marinette blushed and looked at the ground with a nervous grin. Of course she forgot the homework, she was too busy with Chat last night, but she can't tell Alya that!

A male voice called out to the girls, making Alya smile and Marinette weak at the knees. "Hey girls, what's up?" Adrien asked coolly, sweeping his blonde hair away from his eyes. He was so easy to talk to yet she can't seem to muster up the courage to utter a single coherent sentence to him.

"Adrien!" Marinette squeaksd out, before trying to compose herself. "H-hi! We're just...ph-physics work at h-home...forgot?" Alya nudged her before smiling at a confused Adrien.

"What my shy, yet adorably cute friend is trying to say is, she forgot to do her Physics homework." Adrien raised an eyebrow and looked at Marinette with a hidden smirk.

"I didn't think you'd be the type to forget to do their homework, Marinette?" She felt her face drop. 'Oh he must think less of me now. Stupid cat interrupting my night...

"I-it was for good reason." She managed to utter out, trying to control her breathing. This had been the first real conversation they've had in a long, long time.

"I'm sure it must've been." She looked up from the ground to face his piercing green eyes. She sighed a breath of relief when she realised he was just teasing; there is a playful smirk on his face and his eyes are twinkling. She cocked her head to the side in thought - his face. It seems almost too familiar too her?

"So about that homework, huh?" Alya asked suddenly, jolting her out of thought. "Maybe you can get a...physics-wiz to help?" She gestured over to Adrien with her eyes, and he smiles. Her jaw dropped.

"Oh! I couldn't let you do that! It'd be a burden. I can't let you help m-me with school work! Especially Physics!" She blurted out all at once earning herself strange looks from ongoing classmates. 'You've really done it this time, Marinette.' She thought as she covered her face with her hands and shook her head at the sudden attention she's brought to herself.

"On the contrary, I quite like Physics. I would be glad to...help...are you okay? Marinette?" He turned to look at Alya, who shrugged her shoulders.

"She's not one for attention..." Adrien thought to himself before resting a hand on her shoulder.

"So I heard Chat Noir was around your house last night?" Marinette's head jerked up at the mention of her partner.

"U-um...ahh. W-what?" How could he know that if Alya just told her?

"It was on the Ladyblog. Did you see it?" Oh, of course.

"Uh... yeah. Alya told me." Adrien looked at her with a mysterious glint in his eye.

"That's so cool. Did you see him? Did you get to talk? What's he like?" He was standing quite close to her, and she felt like she's about to faint. Adrien noticed this and stepped back slowly. "S-sorry Marinette. Got a bit carried away." He heard a soft snickering from his bag and he groaned to himself at the mistake he just made.

"That's okay. I-uh. We didn't chat much." She muttered before hearing a scoff from next to her and Alya mumble 'chat'. She nudges Alya; not her too...

Adrien's shoulders slump forward. "Oh, that's a shame. I heard he's a really nice guy." Marinette let out an unladylike snort before covering her mouth with wide eyes. Her two friends look at her with curious eyes. 'Quick, Marinette. Think of something clever...'

"Sorry, I just saw someone...tripping?" It came out as more of a question, but she played along anyway. "Yeah. Kim was walking up the stairs and he...tripped. Poor guy." She squinted her eyes at her lame attempt of an excuse and gave the two a nervous smile. 

"O-kay?" Alya raises and eyebrow before shaking her head and taking her phone out. Adrien just tilted his head in confusion. What's so bad about Chat? Marinette looked around for a distraction before spotting a bright blue shirt. Aha! Nino.

"Nino! I mean- oh look! Nino's here. Over here!" She waved her friend down, anxious for an escape and almost hit herself in the process. 'Marinette you're just making things worse...' Nino smiled at the group, waving back and mouthing 'be there soon'. 

"Guess he's paw-t up in something, hey?" Adrien giggled, nudging Marinette, before freezing. Shit. Shit. Shit shit shit. He heard a deep intake of breath from next to him and saw Marinette's cheeks going crimson. He glanced at Alya, who had looked up from her phone and was staring at him, mouth agape. 

"Did...you just make a cat pun?" Alya asked slowly, scrunching her nose up and furrowing her eyebrows. 'Good one, Adrien. You've done it this time.'

"I mean," he scratched the back of his neck, "We were talking about Chat Noir. It was a joke." He crossed his fingers behind his back praying they took the bait. Alya mumbled 'that was so bad' under her breath and looked at her phone while Marinette just stands there facing the ground. Adrien looked away from the two girls for a moment trying to find his cool. That was way too close. He turns back around and flashed the two a shy smile. "Well this suddenly got pawkwa-awkward!" He threw his hands out in front of him dramatically, Marinette jumping in fright. "Awkward. I meant awkward." He shut his eyes and clenches his fists before sighing. Plagg stuffed his face with a piece of cheese so he didn't give himself away by laughing too loud.

"I'm...just going to pretend that didn't happen." Alya looked at a flustered Adrien with a thoughtful face. She knew something is up. He was never this nervous around anyone - well besides his father, that is. 

"Agreed." Replied Nino, walking up to the group with a pamphlet in hand. His arm draped across Adrien's left shoulder. "No idea what happened, but I'll always agree with Alya. She always seems to be pretty on top of things." He sent her a wink before turning to look back at Adrien and missing the red tinge he caused on her cheeks. "So anyway, I heard your old man's doing another contest. Are you going to be the model again?" Nino wavef the pamphlet in the air. Adrien thought back to the night before when Marinette asked him about a dress. Who knows, maybe he will have to model it?

"I don't think so. It's up to the designers to choose a model." He bravely turned to the pink girl beside him. "Will you be competing? After winning that hat contest, I'm sure my father will be eager to see what you have planned." Her face lit up. Bingo. 

"You really think so? I'm making a dress. Hopefully it's better than the hat. Sorry about the feathers, by the way..."

"No worries. You didn't know." Nino leaned in closer to Marinette, arm still around Adrien's shoulder.

"A dress you say?" He pat his best friends chest. "Looks like you'll be modelling a pretty sweet dress, dude." Marinette blushed and looked down at his indirect compliment. "My bro has all the right curves in all the right places. He'd look killer in a dress." He hip bumped a chuckling Adrien for effect, slightly knocking him into a nearby wall. Adrien smirked, forgetting about the two girls, forgetting he's not wearing a mask.

"I've definitely got the legs for it." He pointed his toes and jokingly ran his hand along his thigh. Marinette sucked in a sharp breath before interrupting their playful banter.

"Oh! Would you look at that the bell is about to ring we better get inside. C'mon Alya remember that thing you wanted to tell me before? And my homework?" She grabbed her best friends wrist and anxiously glanced at her.

"What thi-aah! Mari!" Alya yelped as the girl with the red cheeks pulled her through the corridors of the school.

Adrien and Nino stared off in the direction of the girls. "What was that about?" Adrien asked, turning back to Nino.

"She's either really stressed about her homework or your gorgeous legs intimidate her." He hoisted his bag onto his shoulder and waggled his eyebrows.

"Dude, shut up."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise I'm still alive. It's been so long I'm so sorry.
> 
> This was dedicated to my bro Natasha. I introduced ML to her a few days ago and she's trash now so that's always a good thing. Anyway.
> 
> If anyone wants to send any requests or...anything... just message me on tumblr @marichat-traaash.
> 
> Yeah...


	3. Finally Something To Do With Camping

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry. It's beem months since I updated this story... I've had terrible writers block.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not edited. Sorry.

"A camping trip?!" A low murmur of voices filled the classroom at the teachers statement. Adrien wanted to groan; just what he needed right now. With everything he had going on in his regular life, plus his superhero life, a week away from it all would put him way behind in his schedule. Nathalie will blow a gasket. He inwardly smirked at the thought. Maybe being away from it all will be good for him after all. He turned to Nino who just shrugged, more interested . Guess he isn't an outside sort of guy.

Madam Bustier pinched the bridge of her nose, cringing at the high pitched scream that came from her...least favourite student. "Yes, Chloe. A camping trip. For this terms assessment, we will be going on a camping trip for a week. There's no getting out of it, as it's compulsory if you would like to pass this subject." She turned towards the rest of the class. "Any more complaints?" Everyone stayed silent. "Good, I have sent our permission slips to your parents. You have the weekend to pack and we leave on Monday. I'll see you all bright and early next week. You may talk amongst yourselves until the bell rings."

Glancing up at the clock, Adrien waited patiently. 5 minutes until the weekend. 5 minutes before he could get out of here. 5 more minutes of Chloe until Monday...

He hesitated before turning around to Alya and Marinette. Alya looked like she was in the same boat as Nino, scowling at her notebook, where Marinette's gaze was fixed on Adrien already, a small smile resting on her face. Please let her be excited, please... "You excited for this camping trip, Marinette?" He offered, noticing her jump in her seat. Her cheeks turned a soft pink as she quickly glanced down at her desk.

"I...uh. Y-yeah. I like camping. You know...uh, flowers and stuff. Nature. It's cool." Nailed it. She gave him a nervous smile.

At least she didn't fall out of her seat this time. Adrien decided to ignore her nervous behaviour and gave her a grin. "That's good! I'll hang around you then. These two look like they're about to throw a tantrum." He gestured to their two friends, who pouted at his statement. "I don't see why they're so upset. No sounds of cars in the morning, no akum-...I mean...attacks-"

"That's exactly what I'll miss! I won't see Ladybug and Chat for a week. One. Week. 7 Days, Adrien! I'm going to suffer from withdrawal!" Alya threw her hands in the air, exasperated. "It will be like the time I dropped my phone on the bathroom floor and the screen smashed so I had to use my mum's old flip phone. I'll be without my idols for a full week." Idols? He thought to himself, I knew she loved Ladybug, but me too? She considers me an idol? He feels the corners of his mouth twitch at the thought. Maybe they do see me as helpful after all...

"Don't be overdramatic, Alya." Marinette sighed, resting her arms on her desk and leaning on her hands. "It won't be that bad, camping is fun. Besides, I doubt anything will happen while we're away. You lived before they existed, and you can do it again." Alya rolled her head back and groaned in response; a familiar action to Adrien. Living with his ever-so-keen kwami has allowed him to ignore actions like this and carry on with conversation as if it never happened.

"Who knows. Maybe Ladybug will...miraculously be there." Adrien joked, earning himself a punch on the arm from Nino and a look of disapproval from Marinette. Harsh. Alya, however, seemed to like the idea and stopped groaning, giving her full and utmost attention to him. She stood up and slammed her hands on the desk in front of her, causing the quiet chatter around them to fade away.

"Did you say what I think you just said?" Oh no... "That Ladybug could be on our camping trip?" This can't be good. An excited gasp came from the front of the room and caused Adrien to cringe. Here we go...

"Ladybug is coming on our camping trip?" Chloe stood up, bringing the attention of everyone in the room to her. "In that case, I'll be there. I can wear my Ladybug stockings!" Now there's some Ladybug merchandise Adrien certainly didn't have.

"I didn't say she was coming." Adrien defended himself, wincing at his earlier mistake. "It was a joke. Ladybug is a busy girl." This can't be happening. What if they ask about him too? He looked to someone, anyone for some help. Alya was too busy indulging in all the talk of Ladybug, and Nino seemed to be enjoying himself too. What about Marinette? The small voice in his head nagged him as his eyes quickly crossed over her. Maybe not. She seems...unsettled. "I'm sure she won't be there. She needs to stay here and protect Paris."

"But who will protect us from danger? What if a...bear comes out in the middle of the night!?" Alya fought back, standing up to sling her bag on her shoulder. Adrien covered his face with his hands and suppressed a loud groan of despair. Why wasn't I put in another class?

"A bear is impractical. How about a jaguar?" Alix offered, nudging a giggling Mylene. Kim soon stood up and flexed his arms, winking at her.

"You're looking at your saviour, ladies." Didn't I save YOU from a jaguar? Adrien shook his head at Kim's ego and turned away when the bell finally rang. The class, except Kim and Alix, stood up and started exiting the room, making small talk with their fellow classmates.

A loud guffaw came from Alix, who had a wicked smirk on her face. "No one's looking at you Kim. I doubt they'd want to be jag chow anyway." She shoved him and he fell backwards onto the desk as she strutted out of the room with her head held high.

Adrien had always admired...whatever they had. They seemed to remain close, no matter the intensity of their insults. He could respect that. He's never been that close to anyone. He occasionally joked with Nino, but he didn't want to hurt his feelings. He couldn't joke with Nathalie for obvious reasons, and wasn't even sure his father knew what a joke was. Well, at least he had Plagg... at least. When he first met Alix and Kim, he presumed they were dating, and asked Nino about it, whose reply was choking on a burger he had been eating at the time. 'They're just friends,' he said, wiping his mouth, 'they're too close as friends to become a couple.' To this day, Adrien didn't believe him.

"You wanna go, gremlin?" Kim's growl pulled Adrien out of his thoughts. "You can't walk away from a fight!" He shouted, snatching his bag and sprinting out after her.

Yeah, he definitely doesn't believe him.

\-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sunday night came around too quickly in Adrien's opinion. The entire weekend was completely uneventful. No akumas, no complications, no Ladybug. All he did was listen to Plagg complain about his 'lack' of cheese and pack his bags for the camping trip. He had absolutely no idea what to pack, so he emailed Nino earlier, who gave him quite a long list of 'things to bring.'

"So apparently we're staying in cabins instead of tents, but Nino said to pack a sleeping bag and sheets and blankets. Have you ever gone camping, Plagg?" Adrien looked over at his pillow at the kwami, who had made himself quite comfortable with his head resting on his arms.

"Sure I have. I'll have you know one of the previous Chat Noir's was a camp instructor." He dismissed Adrien and closed his eyes.

Adrien let out a well needed whine of protest and flopped on his bed, hair falling all over his face. "Plagg, I'm serious! Nino just sent me a massive list and I don't even know what I need to take. Am I supposed to pack a grill? Am I supposed to pack a grill, Plagg?! Am I?! What about a potato peeler? Or a-" Plagg cut him off with a chuckle. He flew over and landed on Adrien's tense shoulder, patting it softly.

"Kid, your friend appears to have copied a list off the internet. You don't need cooking supplies. Look, pack your essentials first." He pointed to he pile of camping equipment Nathalie brought in earlier, as he requested. "Clothes to last seven days, hat, underwear, you know, essentials."

Adrien looked up at Plagg. "Is that all? What about everything else?" Adrien glanced at the endless supplies which flooded one side of his room. There had to be thousands of dollars worth of camping equipment just sitting there and he couldn't bear seeing that money go to waste. Maybe he could give it to some sort of camping charity. Were they real things? Should he sell them? Ugh! Too much to think about! He slammed his head back on his mattress and let out a muffled groan.

Plagg stayed silent, looking at his chosen with a frown before letting out a deep sigh. "You're completely clueless, aren't you?"

Adrien sprang up and threw his hands in the air, flinging Plagg across the room and onto the ground. "Obviously! I grew up in the city and father never really took me camping. I seriously need help with this sort of stuff." He hugged his arms to his chest, feeling guilty about basically throwing Plagg across the room. Note to self: get Plagg some extra cheese for that little mishap.

"Well then." Plagg sat up shaking his head. "Why don't you call that nice classmate of yours to send you a list of what she packed? Surely she'd be much more organised than you." He pointed to Adrien's phone, which was sitting on his desk, untouched.

"Who?" He couldn't be talking about Chloe, because he said 'nice', and it wouldn't be Alya... so that would only mean..."Marinette? I doubt she'd want to be bothered by me..."

"So you can bother her when you're Chat Noir, but not as...nevermind."

"That's...different. I think she like Chat. She seems to act happier around him than when she's around me."

"It's worth a try, Adrien. You're classmates, after all. Plus she seemed pretty excited to go camping on Friday, so she must know what it's like." He was right. Marinette looked like she was about to let out a shriek of excitement that afternoon. She probably used to go camping with her parents all the time; it wouldn't surprise Adrien at all. With a family like that, they'd do all those sort of things together.

"Fine..." He trudged towards his desk with a pout on his face and grabbed his phone, scrolling through his contacts to find 'Marinette'. Without thinking, he pressed call and held the phone up to his ear, listening to the dial tone.

"H-hello?" Her voice was soft, but clear enough for Adrien to make out what she was saying. This was such a stupid idea. You don't even know if she likes you. What if she only puts up with you because Alya and Nino are dating? Oh god this was a terrible idea-

"Is...anyone there?" Great, now she thinks you're even more of an idiot. Just say something already! Plagg rolled his eyes and gestured for him to talk.

"Hey, Marinette. It's Adrien. I-uh, I'm in need of your assistance."

\---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Marinette dragged her suitcase along the pavement and towards the school. Today is the day! She felt like skipping the rest of the way. She barely got any sleep last night; her excitement was beginning to interrupt her sleeping schedule. Well, it was already interrupted because of Chat, but that was different. 

'Chat...' Marinette thought to herself, 'I should've told him I was leaving. He'll probably turn up to an empty window...'

"Whoa, Marinette! You're early..." Mme. Bustier stated in surprise when she noticed Marinette sitting on the steps with her camping bags and a smile on her face.

"I...I didn't want to miss the bus, and I didn't know when we were leaving, so I decided it was better safe than sorry."

"I couldn't agree more. It's a lovely day for camping. We'll be on the bus for around six hours today, by the way." Bustier pulled what seemed to be a booklet or a map out of her bag and proceeded to unfold it. Yep, map. Marinette smiles politely at her teacher making an effort to talk to her. "We'll stop for lunch, but otherwise it's purely on the road. I guess that's part of the camping experience." She shrugged and shoved her map in a pocket of her bag, before walking towards the bus driver.

Marinette smiled to herself, remembering the eight hour drive she went on with her parents last time they went camping. Sure, the camping is great, but she loved the journey too, despite being stuck in a confined space with people for a long amount of time. She had never gone camping without her parents before, so this was a first for her. She hadn't ever been on a camping trip with her crush before. She was pulled out of her thoughts when she noticed someone standing in front of her.

"Kissed enough ass today, have we?" Her eyes travelled up to the blonde standing in front of her, and to her dismay, it was not the blonde she was hoping for. No way was Chloe about to ruin her day with her bitchiness.

"Completely reached the maximum amount I can handle, thank you." Marinette muttered, earning herself a glare from Chloe and a short cackle from Alya, who stood with a pride smirk on her face. Wait, how long was I spaced out for? When did Alya get here?

"Yeah? Well... I...I don't need this. Not today." Chloe whipped her head around. "Sabrina, let's go." She snapped her fingers and stormed off, followed by her small red-headed follower, who looked at her and Alya with a grimace. Marinette took a deep breath and felt two hands on her shoulders. Alya was now standing in front of her, pride smirk still intact. 

"That was awesome! Since when did you become so sassy?" Since I get weekly visits from a certain uninvited cat...

"Someone needed to put that girl in her place. That and she will not ruin my day and...uh...." Marinette stared behind Alya with a small blush, causing her to turn around and grin. Adrien had arrived. Alya smirked, before throwing her arms around Marinette. 

"Oh Marinette, you're too nice for your own good." She says, a little too loudly, earning strange looks from tired classmates finally beginning to show up, and the attention of Adrien, who began walking over. 

"Alya what are you doing?" She nudged her friend, but kept the nervous smile on her face "A-Adrien! H-how are you this...morning?"

"Marinette is always nice, it doesn't surprise me. And I'm fine thanks." Marinette blushed and thought back to last night, the smile on her face widening. Adrien called her! Like, actually called her. As in saw her name and clicked call! She was ecstatic to say the least. Granted, it was to ask what to pack for the trip, but she still counted it as the best phone call ever!

"I can't thank you enough for helping me last night."

"It's uh...no problem really."

"I owe you one." She smiled, but remained silent, not trusting her voice. 

Minutes had passed before the rest of her classmates turned up, hauling their suitcases behind them with tired expressions on their faces. Poor Sabrina had been hauling both hers and Chloe's and looked like she was about to pass out at any given moment.

Half an hour passed before the bus driver gave the 'ok' to Madame Bustier, who turned to everyone and cleared her throat. "Alright students. I assume you know we're on the bus for 6 hours, so choose who you sit next to wisely. I'll mark your names off as you get on. You may take your pillows and other little...doodads on the bus with you, but heavier luggage will go underneath. When we get to the campsite, I will assign you all cabinmates and workgroups or pairs. Remember, this is for a grade, so there's a booklet you will need to complete by the end of the week too. I'll tell you the rest later. Okay. Chop chop. No time to waste." She gestured for her students to board the bus.

The grin on Marinette's face grew wider as she took each step closer to the bus, but she couldn't help but feel something small in her stomach, pulling her to stay longer. She shook off the feeling and stepped onto the bus behind Alya. 

Goodbye Paris...goodbye akumas...goodbye...Chat...


	4. Not a chapter, but a promise

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I PROMISE I SWE A R TO GOD

Hey guys. I... Yeah I just want to apologise. I basically abandoned this story. I couldn't really think of a plot or anything, so I pushed it aside. I'M SORRY! I swear I'm going to continue it. I think I lost hope when a much more popular author started writing a camping au too, and was really intimidated. 

So anyway, I've had some great ideas that unfortunately don't fit into my ~gay anime ship fics~ but would fit this perfectly. 

Plus this massive hiatus has killed me so yeah PREPARE FOR THE RETURN OF WHY NO ONE TALKS ABOUT CAMPING ANYMORE, with actual camping scenes. 

I'm always open to ideas, too! If you want, message me on twitter (@cynikels) and share your ideas with me, or you know, if you just wanna talk.

So. Yeah. Yay.


End file.
